Liam Neeson at a New York event on Feb. 10. / Theo Wargo, Getty Images for Lincoln Center

by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

When it comes to grappling with the sudden death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, the wounds are still raw for Liam Neeson five years on.

"(Her death) was never real. It still kind of isn't," the actor tells Anderson Cooper on this Sunday's 60 Minutes. "There's periods now in our New York residence when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years ... anytime I hear that door opening, I still think I'm going to hear her."

The grief "hits you. It's like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of instability ‚?¶ the earth isn't stable anymore and then it passes and it becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes."

Richardson died at age 45 from a head injury sustained while skiing.

"She was on life support ‚?¶ I went in to her and I told her I loved her, said 'Sweetie, you're not coming back from this, you've banged your head ‚?¶ she and I had made a pact, if any of us got into a vegetative state that we'd pull the plug ‚?¶ that was my immediate thought ‚?¶'OK, these tubes have to go. She's gone.' "

After family members and friends said goodbye, Neeson chose to donate three of her organs: her heart, kidneys and liver, "so she's keeping three people alive at the moment ... It's terrific‚?¶and I think she would be very thrilled and pleased by that."